Parents in Ottawa's west end mobilize to save their schools from closure

Carmen Parsons says Leslie Park Public School was ideal for her son, John, who thrived at the small neighbourhood school where students and teachers all know each other.

But when she heard the news this week that Leslie Park is one of eight public schools targeted for closure, she wasn’t surprised. Parsons has analyzed the grim statistics. Enrolment is down to 125 students in a building with room for 288, and the options appear limited. If Briargreen Public School, the other nearby English-program school, was closed instead, there wouldn’t be room at Leslie Park to accommodate students from both schools.

“I was sad and disappointed,” said Parsons of the staff recommendation to close Leslie Park and send the children to Briargreen. “But logically, when you think it through, this is what I expected would happen.

“We would need to come up with some serious reasons as to why they would keep (Leslie Park) open. They have to close some schools, that’s the bottom line.”

Parents across the city are marshalling their arguments as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board begins a massive five-year effort to close schools and re-align programming. The board says it can’t afford to pay for 15,000 empty pupil spaces now spread across the city. It is trying to end the mismatch between where buildings are located and where schools are needed.

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It began this week with the launch of two “accommodation reviews” of schools in the west end of Ottawa, and of high schools in the east end of the city.

The staff report recommends closing Rideau High School in the east, which is at less than 42-per-cent capacity. In the west, targeted for closure are Greenbank, D. Aubrey Moodie and J.H. Putman middle schools, and Leslie Park, Grant, Century and Regina Street elementary schools. Three high schools — Bell, Sir Robert Borden and Merivale — would expand to include Grades 7 to 12 when the middle schools close.

Parents are upset about the prospect of losing neighbourhood schools. At Regina Street Public, another small English-program school, many parents are from low-income families and rely on public transportation, said parent Melanie Good. Most children can now walk to the school, which also houses a non-profit daycare for kids age two to 12 that provides before- and after-school care. The report suggests students from Regina St. could attend D. Roy Kennedy PS instead.

If that happens, some parents would have to take a city bus to drop their children at another daycare, then get to work themselves, said Good. Some families would have trouble affording bus fare.

Regina Street parents are organizing a lobbying campaign.

“We are going to fight, and hopefully we can keep our school open,” said Good, whose son Ryan is heading to Grade 1.

For Leslie Park parent Christine Thomson, an underlying issue is the provincial government’s decision to fund multiple school boards.

There is a Catholic elementary school about a block away from Leslie Park, she notes. “I have nothing against Catholics, but I think it’s time the government realized that the best way to save money is to consolidate.

“Kids are being bused across neighbourhoods when there’s a school right next door. But one’s Catholic and one’s public.

“It’s just a crazy waste of money.”

Thomson’s son Gavin, 8, who has Asperger syndrome, also thrived in the “small town” atmosphere at Leslie Park. “All the teachers really know him. I feel like putting him in a much larger school would be horribly stressful.

“He’s not a candidate for French immersion. That’s what’s really frustrating. English-only schools are closing, because it seems like all parents want their kids to go to French immersion. But it seems like kids like Gavin who aren’t really candidates for that just sort of don’t have any priority.”

She is sympathetic to the dilemma faced by the school board.

“I’m a taxpayer too, I don’t want to keep open schools that don’t make any sense. I just wish there was maybe a way to fill up the small schools … there’s got to be some way to make it work. I don’t know what the answer is, either, but for me, personally, I really hope that some kind of solutions can be come up with.”

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